The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Emergency events can occur and when they do, information that can help a person in need is often unavailable. For example, in a medical emergency, a bystander or a first responder may want to assist an injured or sick person. Having access to the injured person's medical information can be critical and the difference between saving and harming the person. In some cases, the injured person can be wearing a medical bracelet or a pendant. Those devices, however, provide only a minimal amount of medical information and, in the case of the pendant, are useless when out of range of a transceiver.
In another example, the emergency situation can be that a person has lost his or her mobile phone or tablet. When a stranger finds the device and wants to return it to its owner, he or she cannot because the stranger does not know how to contact the owner or where to return the device. In many cases, information identifying the owner and/or the owner's friends is stored in the device, and can be accessed if the device is not locked. Nevertheless, because the owner typically locks his or her device to protect his or her privacy, that information cannot be accessed by the device finder.